9 comments:

I am always impressed with the 4 season countries like Japan where you guys could make so many types of wines, juices and pickled delicacies from the many types of healthy fruits available. I realised that my country here has hot climate all year round and we cannot even grow grapes! LOL

ErinBear: Yes, it was successful, although it's slightly bitter because it was made from ao (lit. blue, unripe) ume. I don't think that the inclusion of seeds is responsible for the bitterness, because the ume jam that I made from ripe ume was not bitter at all even though it contained seeds.

1 kg (2.2 pounds) of ume was reduced to about 0.5 kg at the time I separated the ume syrup from the ume, and I added 20% sugar to the ume, so I suppose that the ume jam contains about 40% sugar. No wonder it doesn't show any signs of spoilage even though I simply keep it in the fridge, with no sterilization first.

I'm not sure if this is useful information, but where I live, people make jam, and they freeze it in smaller containers. Then you can take it out and put it in the refrigerator to use it later in the year. It will keep longer that way. You don't have to worry as much about sterilization, and you can also use lower sugar if you want. You can buy pectin made for lower-sugar (freezer) jam. It's a much easier process to make freezer jam, and it leaves the fruit tasting more fresh. Many of my friends prefer it. Maybe everyone makes the same types of jam in Japan.

I made jam in the past with the full canning process, and I enjoyed it. We had many apricot trees at our house when I was a girl, so I made apricot jam when I was a teenager. I also made plum jam from friends who had too many plums on their trees!

Hi Hiroyuki! I can confirm with Erin that you can freeze jam quite successfully. I really enjoy jam making when berries are in season - this past spring and summer, I've made strawberry, strawberry-raspberry, and blueberry jam. I've frozen all of it, as I'm still a little hesitant to try canning jam - by freezing it, I know that the jam will be fine for months to come. I'd love to make ume jam someday!